South Sudan to receive more doses of Johnson and Johnson vaccines

By Tapeng Michael Ohure

South Sudan is expected to receive 168,000 doses of Johnson and Johnson vaccines, a World Health Organisation official said. 

Speaking to journalists in Juba on Sunday, the World Health Organisation COVAX coordinator Dr. Brendan Dineen said the J & J vaccine would arrive in the country on Tuesday.

“The briefing is to know is that on Tuesday, we will receive another 168,000 vaccines of Johnson and Johnson. The vaccines are almost finishing in some locations in the country so having  vaccine to arrive on Tuesday, we will  re-supply parts of the country with Johnson and Johnson,” Dineen announced.

Dineen said about 145,000 people are already vaccinated with Johnson and Johnson.

For his part, Dr. John Rumunu the Director General for Health Emergency Preparedness and Covid-19 Acting Incident Manager said the health sector remains alert on COVID-19.

“We are on alert as our 7 days moving case count is around 11 to 12 cases per day. We continue to advise everyone to avoid overcrowding, use facemasks, wash hands and use hand sanitizers regularly and maintain social distance,” Rumunu said.

In the past 24 hours South Sudan confirmed 6 positive cases bringing the cumulative confirmed cases to 12,819 and 12,463 recoveries including 133 deaths. The country recorded 68 confirmed cases in the past one week.

Dr. Kibebu Kinfu Berta, the Epidemiologist at the WHO said South Sudan recorded a decrease in COVID-19 cases in the past few days.

“We are also following what is going on in South Sudan, but still we have seen a few number of cases in the past week and there is no any upsurge of cases. In fact it has reduced in the past few days though there was an increase in the past weeks but now the number has decreased,” he said.